The Power of a Park - Birmingham, AL

Even if students can't place the exact date or city or even details, they almost always have vivid images in their minds when asked about police dogs and fire hoses unleashed on young protesters, or about the "Four Little Girls." Last year's tour seemed to hit its stride when we spent the better part of a day on 16th Street in Birmingham, Alabama. Touring the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Kelly Ingram Park, and 16th Street Baptist Church seems to put the students in direct connection to 1963. And why shouldn't it? The protesters who filled up jails and risked bodily harm overwhelmingly represent their age group. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carol Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley each left this world tragically and violently around the average age of our students. Birmingham's story is compelling and all-too-real for these young people. I'll let you readers judge if this year's class was affected in a similar way . . .

from Byanna Norwood

Thoughts on Kelly Ingram Park

They sprayed,
They spat,
They threw dynamite,
And that was that.

The spray burned,
The spit stung,
The dynamite killed.

They laughed,
We cried.
They put out dogs,
Children died.

The laughter hurt,
The tears eventually dried.
The dogs bit,
But nobody was tried.

We did it for freedom.
F-R-E-E-D-O-M
It was a march for freedom,
A march to free me.

from Nevahl Nixon
Today was a moving experience for me at Kelly Ingram Park. Its always easy to see a statue and give your own input, but to get the in depth perspective of someone who came up around the civil rights movement and knows so much about it [our group was approached to a local man who was two years old in 1963 and has lived his whole live in Birmingham]. The man from the park has been the most moving person/thing on this trip. He is what I needed to ignite that fire I've been waiting for; his words were true and descriptive about race relations in Birmingham and events that transpired during the time period. I'm deeply inspired. I want to make a change!

Also...aside from the educational aspect of the trip, I would like to say "thank you" to everyone involved. With this trip we are more than teens on a mission, we are a family, and I love each and everyone of these people.

from Keith Miller
Kelly Ingram Park inspired me to appreciate people and do stuff that's right for us. Besides seeing the monuments, I had a great opportunity to listen to a [local] man who inspired me by sharing his perspective at Kelly Ingram Park.

The other thing that has inspired me was the bombing that killed those four little girls. This bombing has had an emotional effect on me. The question that I would like to ask is towards the men who bombed the church. Did they have any idea that they were going to murder 4 innocent girls?

from Vandell Jackson
The things I've seen and learned on this trip are amazing. A lot of the things I've seen I really had no clue about. Today, we learned about the "four little girls" and how they died in their church. The first thought that came to my head was "why?" and who in their right mind would blow up a church? Every time I saw a KuKluxKlan robe on our museum tour, I would get mad and feel as though I wanted to set it on fire.

I understand that these things happened in the past, and that I shouldn't go out and hate people who don't believe in the same way I do. I understand this through the example and teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King. To me that says you are no better than them when you try to turn to violence when they hit you (or worse). We as black people need to stop hurting each other and come together. As Denzel Washington's character in The Great Debaters says . . . Jim Crow has found a way to take the black man's mind and keep the muscle. Now tell me how that makes you feel?

from Geordea Herron
16th Street Baptist Church was one of the saddest things that I had ever seen. I feel sorry for the families of the "four little girls," and even though I wasn't there to witness it all - what I saw was good enough. If it was my child I don't know what I would've done. But the families were strong. But why wait 14 long years to put the murderer away! I saw pictures of the bodies. They looked like coal . . . it was scary for them, and for me.

Being in Kelly Ingram Park made me thing of how selfish we are today. We teens, that is. Kids our age were fighting to go to school with whites, and now we fight with our parents because we aren't allowed to go to the mall because we didn't clean up.